Home is where the heart is
by ForeverTheWhiteTiger
Summary: read at risk! jk, typical excuse, i suck at summaries, read if you like, review tooo! :
1. Chapter 1

(Sarah) Sometimes I really do wonder when things changed. I mean it seems like just yesterday Jake and I would be hanging out talking about everything, Charlie and I would go for long drives into who-knows-where, Lorraine would be forever trying to give me make-over's, and Elliot and I were together finally. Now everything is all wrong.

Elliot, the "love" of my life, and I had started fighting. We live about an hour or so apart from each other and he'd text me or call me everyday. Until one day I started noticing something. Elliot was starting to get a little…clingy it seemed. He always needed to know where I was, what I was doing, and who I was with. If I didn't tell him exactly that, he'd get mad and say I was hiding things from him. When I told him that he should trust me, he replied with "why should I?"

Most people couldn't see it, but my oldest brother Charlie and I were always super close. Sure, I was also very close with my brother Jake, but when Jake started growing up, he seemed to grow out of me. One day this summer (school starts in 3weeks) Charlie found me and my skate board all alone on the front porch. Jake was supposed to meet me here but he texted me saying that he had to do something else. I wasn't mad, just bummed out.

So of course Charlie asked what was wrong, I glared at him for that, I didn't wanna talk about it. And what does Charlie do? Picks me up over his shoulder as I yell and hit him until we reach his car. I got quite and he opened the passenger side door, put me down in the seat, shut the door and got in the driver side.

"Strap in," he said, "we're going for a drive"

The fact that I did as told without complaining or making a sarcastic comment probably showed how bummed I was. He started the engine and took off. I looked out my window, then over at him.

"Where are we going?" I asked and he smiled.

"I don't know," he said and I just stared, "where ever the wind goes"

I mentally vowed to stay quite, since Charlie practically kidnapped me, but I couldn't stand the silence after while. I tapped my foot, played with my fingers, and Charlie just drove. Then he looked at me.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked and I froze.

"I don't know" I replied and he chuckled, "what are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking about what horrible thing could've upset my favorite little sister," he replied and he seemed sincere, "wanna get ice cream?"

After what he was thinking and then that question, all I could do was nod. He smiled and turned on the radio. I didn't realize it but I zoned out until we reached the ice cream parlor.

Charlie didn't even have to ask to know which ice cram I wanted. We got the ice cream and he drove awhile longer until we reached a cliff. I was shocked, just how long had we been driving? Charlie got out and I followed. We sat on the hood of his car.

"I broke up with Annie last week," he announced and I didn't show it, but I was confused. They seemed so perfect together. He just kept licking at his mint-chocolate-chip ice cream.

"Why?" I asked and he shrugged.

"She's just not the one for me,"

"Elliot wont leave me alone," I blurted out and he looked over at me, "he's always asking about what I'm doing and stuff and its annoying and he says he doesn't trust me,"

"Relationships, long distance especially, are based on trust. But I don't think that's the only thing bothering you"

It still amazes me how Charlie can see right through me, like I'm a piece of glass. Fragile glass too, he never treated me like one of the guys, to him I meant more than that.

"It's Jake," I admitted finally, taking a bite out of my chocolate ice cream.

"How so?" he asked and I sighed loudly. In the end, I told him everything. Every little thing that was bothering me from Elliot to Jake, Lorraine and Nora trying to change who I am, having no friends that are girls, and my guy friends acting all weird around me now. Words couldn't explain how much better I felt telling someone about all of it. It was awesome.

Charlie told me about some of his problems on the dive home and I listened to every word. By the time we got back home, it was really dark. Luckily Charlie had texted mom to tell her where we were, so we went into the house quietly, not waking anyone up. My older brother walked me to my room and kissed my forehead, saying goodnight. I fell asleep smiling.

Things with Charlie aren't too different now, except he got his own house a few blocks away. He and I still drive out to "our cliff" and get ice cream but now sometimes instead of going back home I'll just stay at Charlie's. Jake doesn't seem to like this. Ever since I got closer to Charlie, Jake seems to be getting…sadder. He's not mad, or cold, just sad. When we go skateboarding and hang out though he seems like his normal Jake-self. I don't know what's up with him but I plan on finding out.

Lorrain, I think she really does hate me now. Before Charlie and I went on that drive, she was always his favorite sister. Now they still see each other but he's usually hanging out with me. When he's there, she'll play nice, when he's not all she does is glare and won't speak to me. I'm not sure, and it may sound crazy, but I think maybe there might have been something between them no one else knew about, something worth looking into.

Writing about all this really helps, guess I have to thank Kim and Jessica for getting me this journal.

~Sarah Baker.

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(3rd) "Sarah!" Jake yelled as he ran into the house. He took the stairs two at a time, using his long legs to sometimes skip even three steps. When he reached her door, he knocked twice then just walked in. she was holding her journal, which she quickly put under her pillow and stood up.

"What?" she asked him and then shrieked as he picked her up in a big hug, spinning her around. When he put her down, she smacked his shoulder.

"Ow, hi!" he said cheerfully and she gave him an odd look.

"Are you ok?" she questioned him and he nodded, his long-ish wavy brown hair getting in his eyes. Sarah pushed back his hair for him and he grinned widely.

"Yeah, never better," he replied, sitting on the edge of her bed. She sat next to him.

"Ok…What's up?" she asked and he laid on his back as she looked down at him. His form-fitting black shirt and cameo knee-length shorts looked good on his, maybe a little too good.

"Trist was wondering if you wanna hang out with the gang later," he said and Sarah thought about it. The "gang" were Jake's friends, the ones that took him from her, but they were nice…

"Ok," she agreed and he beamed, hugging her waist while pulling her down to lay next to him. She cuddled up to him and her head lay in the crook of his neck, his arms staying around her.

"Yay," he said and she laughed. Such a Jake thing to say.

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	2. Chapter 2

(3rd) Mike was about 5/6-ish years younger than Sarah and Jake, but those were the two siblings he felt closest to. He noticed every little thing about them, and a few other key things about his other siblings and the Murtaughs of course. Like how Jake, who used to be friends with Elliot, would always glare when Elliot looked at Sarah. Charlie and Lorraine had something between them obviously, considering they spent over half the summer showing off to each other especially in swimwear. Sarah, he knew, had to know that she and Elliot would not last…but she tried really hard anyways and loved him like a good girlfriend still. Henry had gotten closer to Mark, becoming what Charlie was to him. Jake was the hardest sibling to watch because he tried very hard to keep his emotions bottled up and hidden, but he struggled when it came to Sarah. And both Charlie and Jake were a little too close to Sarah which meant one thing…Baker family fight was approaching, and soon.

Michael Baker laughed to himself while out with his friends, to think that his family thought he was so oblivious…

(3rd, different place) Sarah and Jake walked to Tristan's house later on, carrying the skateboards. It was real quite, until Sarah spoke up.

"Ya know, it's been awhile since we've hung out," she said and Jake looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Yea? Well you've been busy with Charlie," he said coolly and she could detect a hint of anger under it.

"Before then even, you've been too busy for me, Charlie was there when you weren't," she explained and he scoffed.

"I wasn't too busy for you, I'm never too busy for you," he said, purposely looking anywhere but at her eyes. It was for too obvious that even he knew he was lying.

"Yeah, sure Jacob," she replied curtly, walking faster, but he was taller so it was no problem to keep up with her.

"Well, if you wanted to hang out more than you could've said something," she rolled her eyes dramatically at this.

"I tried,"

"No you didn't,"

"Yes I did," she insisted, slowing down back to a normal pace, "remember?"

Jake's mind racked through the memories until he found the one that he thought Sarah was talking about, or more like the "ones"

It seemed that Sarah had tried to talk to him more than once. Stopping him before school, after school, in the morning, at night, and all he would do was either walk away, ignore her, or just nod and agree, promising to change only to break that promise less than a day later even. No wonder she turned to Charlie…

"Jake, are you coming?" he heard Sarah yell and his head snapped up to see that she was in front of Tristan's house on the doorstep. Jake ran to catch up with her and the door opened just as he got up the steps.

Tristan Williams was one of Jake's best friends, also a notorious heartbreaker. He moved here close to the end of last year and instantly he and Jake became like brothers. He knew that Jake was one of twelve and that his younger sister was in their grade, but he only saw her once or twice. It appeared that over the summer she had…developed and grown up, she was simply beautiful, and now Tristan wanted her. He wanted Sarah, Jake's little sister.

'No no no, not her' Jake thought frantically as he caught just how his friend was staring at Sarah 'he can't have her, I wont LET him have her!'

'Um, why's he staring…?' Sarah wondered as she gave the boy a once-over. Tristan was a cutie, messy skater boy light blonde hair, bright blue eyes, tall with a fit lean figure, dressed in baggy jeans and a dark blue wife beater. Not bad at all, but not her type.

"Jake! And of course, the lovely Sarah" Tristan said dramatically, taking and kissing Sarah's hand much to both of the siblings displeasure "come in"

Sarah walked in first and quickly if that, trying to distance herself and Tristan, while Jake walked slower, giving Tristan a deadly "hands off" look. The other boy laughed, shutting the door and following them.

Everyone was in the living room and everyone was "the gang" of Cody, Ashton, Shane, and Andrew (Tristan's younger brother). They were all pretty nice, but none of them interested Sarah Baker, they could be her friends sure but nothing more

Sarah was never a quite girl, but somehow she ended up taking a seat on the floor and sitting silently for the next 46 minutes. Jake was so busy making sure Tristan and the rest of the guys weren't checking out his sister that he didn't notice her himself that is until she stood up and announced she was going for a walk, wanting no one to follow her. Everyone was quite as she walked out and slammed the front door shut. Jake felt horrible, he wanted to follow her but respected her wishes, he would leave her alone for now.

The young teenage girl walked without really noticing where she was going, which of course got her a little lost, until she ran into another girl, quite literally.

"Omg, I'm so sorry!" the girl said, stepping back "Are you ok?"

This girl had to be new in town. Light brown wavy hair fell to just between her shoulder blades with red and gold highlights, two blue streaks down the front framing her face, wearing a knee length white strapless dress, high heeled black and silver flip flops, and big pink sunglasses that rested on her head. Girly, but rebellious, Sarah decided she liked her.

Yeah, don't worry about it, I'm good" Sarah reassured her "I'm Sarah"

"I'm Dru," the other girl said and they shook hands, Dru had long fingernails each with a different sparkly color and black stripes "I think I've seen you here before, last name is Baker right?"

"Yep, that's me" Sarah said, nodding her head.

"Damn, that's one big family you got there, I've only got two brothers and I think I'm going insane" Sarah laughed at this

"It's crazy, but hey, I survived!"

"Yay! Anyways, wanna meet my brothers? We kinda just moved here a little while ago so none of us really know anyone yet"

"Sure"

"Yay!" she said again, taking Sarah's hand and walking off with her new friend. They chatted a little bit, but it was not long until they reached the house. It was fairly big, cream colored with blue trimmings, simple and nice. Dru finally let go of Sarah to open the front door.

"Dean! Dante!" Dru yelled, and for a tiny girl she was really loud "by the way, those are the names of my brothers, Dante is 11 months older and Dean is two years older" she explained to Sarah who nodded. A boy, who Sarah assumed was Dante, walked over to them.

"Yes, Druella?" he drawled and Sarah looked him over. Wavy dark brown-almost-black hair, emerald green eyes, about 5'9", toned to perfection, pale, and a bad boy attitude. He seemed pretty cool.

"Don't call me that!" Dru smacked his shoulder, than turned to Sarah "Sarah, this is Dante, Dante this is Sarah"

"Hi" Sarah said as she shook his hand. He smiled a bright white smile at her and she felt dazed for a second.

"Hey" he said and shook her hand for awhile before dropping it, he took a moment to look over Sarah but his eyes stayed mostly to his own sister.

"Where's Dean?" Dru asked, and Dante shrugged.

"Uh, backyard?"

"Ok, thanks bro" she smiled at him and his eyes lit up when she did.

"No problem sis, see ya around, and nice meeting you Sarah" and with that he left up the stairs. Dru took Sarah's hand again.

"To find Dean!" Dru announced and Sarah laughed.

"To find Dean," she agreed and the other girl dragged her through the house until they reached the backyard and sure enough, there was Dean.

The scene played out like a slow-motion movie part. Dean stepped out of the pool, shaking his wet hair while the water dripped down his perfectly toned, sun-kissed body. He looked over at the two girls and sent them a big movie-star smile, Sarah was gone though, seeing as she could not even think straight. The boy was a god. After grabbing his towel, he walked over to the two.

"Ladies" he said in his deep voice and his eyes, gray like Dru's, met Sarah's "I don't believe we've met, I'm Dean, Dean Hudson"

"I'm Sarah, Sarah Baker" she replied somehow finding her voice.

"Nice to meet you Sarah" he said "now what's a nice girl like you hanging around with trouble like our Druella?"

"What's with everyone and the full names? My name is Dru!" the girl complained and her older brother laughed.

"Calm down, Dru" he said, putting emphasis on the name. Sarah laughed when he patted her on the head and Dru swatted his hand away, Dean beamed at Sarah's laughter "Well, she's a keeper! How bout you stay for dinner Sarah? Mom and dad would probably love to meet a girl who can handle Dru"

The two laughed and Dru pouted but agreed.

"It's true, and I'd really love if we could hang out more Sarah"

"I'd love to" she agreed and the siblings cheered. Oh yes, this was going to be the start of a beautiful friendship.

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**To all my readers and reviews I LOVE YOU ALL haha and im sorryyyy for not updating sooner :( so everyone give your thanks to my friend Kate for pestering me everyday to update and finally threating to kill me if i dont! xp what she doesnt know...i cant write if im dead**

**THEcheeseluver12- thanks ever so much :)**

**Thamires- thanks and im sorry if there really are any errors, i love Sarah too :)**

**Zeonna- sorry it took so long! thanks tho! :)**

**ladyruby1897- thanks so much! :)**

**Zoe91- Thanks! :)**

**Readergirl66- glad you think so, thanks! :)**

**xBeckyBooHerex- thanks and yea i hoped to put a little twist on things ive read ALOT of the cheaper by the dozen fanfics and i hope this one is at least half as good, sorry for the slow update, but thanks! :)**

**TeAmJaCoB- Thanks! and yea, i know, im slow, but Thanks! :)**

**I'll update soon, and if i dont, Kate has killed me cuz i didnt xp love you all, ~WhiteTiger**


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